World News - The International Crisis Group Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary of Preventing and Resolving Deadly Conflict

The International Crisis Group celebrated its 10th anniversary Friday, releasing a video chronicling the group's steadily built reputation as a major independent player in the business of conflict management. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the ICG "a widely respected and influential organization for promoting conflict prevention and resolution." In the video, the chief executive officer and president of the group describes its mission as "telling governments things they don't want to hear — getting them to do things they don't want to do." The approach of the ICG is one of analysis and advice. Based within or near to countries at risk of violent conflict are the battalions of the ICG — not battalions of tanks and choppers, but of political analysts and researchers. ... http://abcnews.go.com

Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that Christmas festivities have been polluted by consumerism and suggested that assembling the Nativity scene in the home is an effective way of teaching the faith to children. Nativity scenes are a common sight in Italian homes around Christmas time, and in an annual tradition children came to St. Peter's Square bearing Nativity figures of baby Jesus for the pontiff to bless.“In today's consumer society, this time (of the year) is unfortunately subjected to a sort of commercial ‘pollution’ that is in danger of altering its true spirit, which is characterized by meditation, sobriety and by a joy that is not exterior but intimate,” the pope said in his traditional Sunday blessing. “Assembling the Nativity scene in the home can turn out to be a simple but effective way of presenting the faith to pass it on to one's children,” Benedict added....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10436291/from/RSS/

Tired of trying to keep track of all the so-called superfoods you're supposed to eat? You know, oregano that packs 42 times more anti-oxidants than apples, cooked tomatoes that may prevent prostate cancer, and chocolate and wine that may or may not be health foods? Then here's the good news — you can stop trying.Leading researchers say all those breathless headlines, food packaging claims and seemingly contradictory studies about what anti-oxidants can and can't do have fostered a faulty silver bullet mind-set that can hinder health more than help.Instead, experts advise focusing on balance, moderation and variety, and leaving the phytochemicals, flavanols and phenolic acids to scientists....http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-12-12-antioxidants_x.htm?csp=34

A journalist and anti-Syrian member of Lebanon's parliament was killed Monday morning when a massive car bomb exploded in an eastern Beirut suburb, opposition officials said.Gebran Tueni, the head of An-Nahar newspaper who was elected to parliament this year, died in the explosion.He had returned to Lebanon on Sunday from Paris, where he had been staying for fear of being assassinated, news agencies reported.A Red Cross worker at the scene said four people died in the blast, which injured about 30 people and destroyed more than half a dozen vehicles.A high-ranking Lebanese security source said Tueni's cell phone and laptop computer were found at the site of the bombing....http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/12/lebanon.blast/index.html?section=cnn_world

Iraq's Electoral Commission said it found ``violations'' in voter registrations while investigating an unexpected surge in the number of people requesting ballots in Kirkuk, just days before the parliamentary election. Kirkuk's polling stations had an average 45 percent increase in registrations, compared with an average 8.19 percent across Iraq, the Independent Electoral Commission said in a statement e-mailed from the capital, Baghdad, late yesterday. The panel didn't say whether such ``abnormal patterns'' were discovered throughout the oil-rich northern province or only in its capital, both called Kirkuk. The violations included many forms that were filled out incorrectly, lacked a signature or had more than one signature, the commission said. In some cases, the same name appeared on several forms, the panel said. ...http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aqOBxO7A_mvA&refer=home

The Christmas card arrived first, followed a few hours later by the military officers.“All I have to say is how much I love you and will be glad to see you in January,” Army Sgt. Michael C. Taylor wrote to his mother from Iraq. “I wish you a very merry Christmas.”Stephanie Taylor Tompkins got the card on Wednesday, shortly before Army officers brought her family the news that an improvised bomb had exploded in Balad, Iraq, that day, killing her 23-year-old son, a young man whose family once called him “Little Mickey.” Taylor had become a father and was a devout Christian who loved reading mysteries and thrillers and was looking forward to restoring a 1969 Chevelle when he got home, said his brother, Justin Lee Taylor, 24.Instead, Justin will be restoring the Chevelle alone, as a way to remember his brother....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10431104/from/RSS/